Your patio planters, for example, may present a striking picture because they contain flowers in assorted brilliant colors; next door, your neighbor may use only shades of pink and white for equal pleasure. Even a combination of shades of green can be enticing, particularly if textures and light or shadow are used in some original manner.

Using Vines Decoratively

Effective decorating, then, begins with the elements of good design. But with the addition of your own discrimination and originality, the fun begins. Before using vines and hanging plants for indoor or outdoor decoration, try to visualize the whole picture – the room or wall, or the whole garden area. Try to “see” in your mind all elements in relation to each other and to the situation. Then, select plants and containers that suit your intention and create the picture you have in mind.

To demonstrate some basic principles of design, create some abstract shapes to represent various elements – a rectangle might be a bookcase against a wall; a small square could be the vine in a bracket above it; a long, thin shape might be a vine trained horizontally, or hanging or climbing vertically. The whole area might be the wall of a room or of a garden. Cutting out similar shapes and moving them about within an area in proportionate scale may help you visualize any effect you want to create.

These design principles are applied or adapted to using vines decoratively indoors (interior decoration), outdoors (landscaping), and in the specific category of container gardening.

Because plants are decorative only if they are well grown and healthy, it is important to provide the right cultural practices for vines and cycad plant in pots, baskets, planters, containers, and in the garden. These are general principles; specific culture for specific vines may need to be addressed for certain plants. Methods of propagating vines and combating insects and disease is also an issue which needs to be addressed.

Visit www.plant-care.com and search the web for cultural information on hardiness that should help determine whether each vine is considered an indoor or outdoor plant in any or all of the widely varying climates across the country. What’s grown indoors in Boston may likely flourish outdoors the year round in Tallahassee; some plants that enjoy cool Northwestern summers can’t take the heat in southern Texas; and those that need protracted below-freezing temperatures to force them into a restful dormancy would pine away where a warm climate keeps them growing all the time.

Also for each vine or group of vines should have some general suggestions on the suitable type of indoor or outdoor decoration – hanging baskets, container-garden accents, shades or screens over arches and pergolas, for example.

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Protecting roses for the winter – North of the Ohio River there are few areas where roses will survive the winter without protection. No one has found (so far) a material that protects roses as well as soil. But don’t make the mistake of scooping out soil from between the rows of roses; this would merely put all last summer’s blackspot and mildew spores to bed with the roses. Bring in fresh soil for the hilling job, piling it between bushes until needed.

Lifting gladioli and dahlias – Most of the gladiolus corms can be dug now for storage. This will leave only the last planting to ripen while freezing weather threatens. Also dig dahlias for storage as soon as frost blackens their tops. Both the gladiolus corms and dahlia roots should be dusted with fungicide after digging to reduce losses from disease during storage.

Moving trees and shrubs – After the first killing frost, trees and shrubs can be moved. The sooner this can be done, the sooner new roots will begin to develop. Don’t forget to mulch the transplanted materials to keep frost out of the ground as long as possible. Also wrap the bark of newly transplanted trees with special tree wrap or burlap to prevent sun scald.

Starting a compost heap – The first leaves falling in autumn should remind you to start a compost pile. This is a good time to do it, for there will be plenty of material from the trees and garden to use. And don’t hesitate to use weeds; the heat that is generated by the decaying organic matter should kill the weed seed.

Storing root crops, pumpkins, squashes and other vegetables – In the northern areas of the Midwest these crops should go into storage this month. Though storage can be delayed until November in areas farther south, it is hardly worthwhile, for so little growth is made in cool weather like growing plumbago plant. Instead of waiting, begin this operation as soon as convenient after the first killing frost.

Planting daffodils and tulips – There is still plenty of time to plant narcissi; and tulips really do better if planting is done in October rather than earlier.

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The more orderly method is to make a check list and to give our thought reality we shall consider the requirements of a family living in a development of identical houses in Central New Jersey. Their check list should be used as a guide in making your own.

Topography – Fairly level Exposure – South ( that is, front of house faces south) Location – Central New Jersey Design of garden – Informal Existing vegetation ( trees and shrubs ) – None Garage – Single, attached Soil – Sandy loam, well drained Neighboring properties – Houses on both sides Age of owners – early 30’s Family – Father, mother, and three young children Parents like to work in garden Parents also like to relax in and enjoy the garden, and plan to entertain extensively out-of-doors. Size of property-75 x 125 feet Budget – calls for an expenditure of $750 a year for 6 years.

Analyzing the List

It is obvious that since this family intends to spend a great deal of time relaxing and entertaining their friends out-of-doors they will need a larger than average private area. The rough sketch will include ovals on the basic plot plan the majority of space in the area behind the house is labeled private.

Since the majority of space is devoted to this area, it is obvious that the service area must necessarily be small, perhaps just large enough to provide a few fresh vegetables and flowers that do not require too much care. The completed plan of a garden should serve our hypothetical family well. It provides them with a vast outdoor living room that will be excellent for entertaining and just enough service area to provide tomatoes, string beans, radishes, and flowers.

Now let us consider a neighboring family in similar circumstances who do not plan extensive outdoor entertainment. In their case the service area could be greatly expanded at the expense of the private area.The service area may occupy better than half the space behind the house is sufficiently large to provide all sorts of fresh vegetables and cut and specimen flowers, while the private area, though small, remains large enough to meet the relaxation needs of the family.

Give a great deal of thought and attention to compiling your own check list. Never fail to consider your future as well as your present requirements; plan your garden in such a way that it will mature to fit all your needs with a, minimum expenditure of time, effort, and money. Just like caring for spider mites on plants.

Since our list has shown us how to determine the relative sizes of the public, private, and service areas, we are now ready to begin developing the individual areas. Your next step is to consider each particular area and proceed to mold it into actuality.

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June is a happy month for birds as well as humans, the month of long sunny days and fragrant nights when the honeysuckle perfumes the night breeze and the song sparrow wakes to sing a sleepy serenade to the summer moon.

And whenever honeysuckle is mentioned one usually thinks of the common Japanese honeysuckle that climbs over porches and fences. This will take the place over unless sternly kept in check. Within the dense growth catbirds or chipping sparrows locate their nests, and in winter the visiting white-throated sparrows make their headquarters in the shelter of the nearly evergreen foliage.

The viburnums, with their flat clusters of flowers which later develop into berries in the fall, attract the birds. Arrow-wood has dark blue fruit, and sheep-berry, also called nanny-berry, has showy flower clusters nearly 5 inches across followed by blue berries that are both sweet and edible.

Handsomest of the viburnums is the cranberry-bush, sometimes referred to as high-bush cranberry. The large clusters of bright red berries among freshly green leaves are a fine sight in autumn. According to old botanical texts the cranberries make an “agreeable jelly,” but to make this jelly one will have to race with the birds, who make them disappear as fast as the dogwood berries.

The leaves of the cranberry-bush seem impervious to frost. Long after other shrubs are dried and shriveled the cranberry-bush is still a summer-like green. Sometimes you think it has forgotten about winter.

Many of our popular shrubs and perennials like hibiscus plants are native plants that have been brought under cultivation. Sometimes the process is reversed and a shrub escapes from the confines of the garden to make its way to the wilds where it leads its own life and gets on in the world without benefit of such items as pruning shears and fertilizer.

Such is the snowberry’s career. From a prim orderly existence in old-fashioned gardens it wandered into the great outdoors, and there it has managed to survive among its less sheltered relatives of the honeysuckle family. The little round white berries, like tiny snowballs or camphor balls, are not eaten by birds as fast as the cranberry or dogwood berries; eventually, however, they too go, especially after they become a little droopy and brown and when more desirable fruit is no longer available to the hungry birds.

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Garden Structures

Working drawings and specifications for pergolas, tool sheds, and other garden structures constitute another type of work that you might want to try. They must be drawn to an exact scale so you can transfer the information from plan to the actual ground by a simple enlarging process.

Planting Plan and List

The first result of your efforts at drawing will be a planting plan, a simple piece of work wherein individual plants are shown as plain circles drawn with a compass. Along with this should go a planting list which enumerates the plants to be used by both their botanical and their common names, states the quantity of each kind required, and, many times, gives the size of the plants at planting time.

Take pains to be extremely accurate in locating the center of each plant on the working plan so you will be able to find the exact spot for it on the property like growing bougainvillea on a trellis. Otherwise you might end up with too few plants for a certain situation and a too thin planting, or, worse yet, too many plants and undesirable crowding.

Garden structures often take up too much space in the average small garden. However, if you have a good basic knowledge of carpentry you should be able to design and construct them yourself. A competent professional carpenter should, of course, be able to translate your rough drawings into a finished tool shed or pergola that meets with your approval.

As an example of the importance of this sort of planning you need only look at some of the barbecues, fireplaces and summer kitchens found on home properties. Such a feature should never be built unless it is worthy of the prominent part it plays in the overall plan. Certainly, one built according to detailed specifications drawn up by a professional architect (plans for which can often be bought very reasonably’) is vastly preferable to the all too common result of amateur efforts in piling up a lot of rocks and holding them in place with mortar.

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Use the same standard dimensions for outdoor steps as you would indoors, particularly in high-traffic areas. Your tread should be 10 inches deep, 1/4 inch lower in the front than in back to permit drainage. Risers should be about 7 1/2 inches. A good foundation is essential, especially for steps not made with round-cut logs. Your foundation should extend 6 inches below the frost line.

Concrete is a popular choice when building steps, though not always the most attractive. Construct a simple form using a series of boxes made from of lx6 or lx8 inch scrap lumber. Each box should be the same width but 10 inches shorter than the box for the step below it. Place boxes one on top of the other, and use lathing cleats to hold them together, bracing the corners well. Use 1 part Portland cement to 3 parts sand and 6 parts gravel. Pour the cement and level with the flat edge of a board.

To eliminate the need for forms use precast concrete blocks. It costs about the same as pouring concrete but is much easier, especially for a one-person operation. Take special care when bonding the blocks to each other and improve the appearance of your finished product by applying a thin coat of concrete.

Build your steps with landscaping brick the same as you would with concrete blocks. This may require some heightened masonry skills and the many joints can be a weakness, but the result will be more attractive.

The principle difficulty in constructing stone steps is finding the stone. This presents no problem at all in some areas, but where stone must be purchased these are by far the most expensive type of steps to build. They can also be the most beautiful.

If you can find adequately sized stones you can build your steps without masonry bonding by applying the principles of dry-wall construction. You will need to use mortar when working with freestanding steps. Prepare your foundation as you would for brick steps and place your concrete beds carefully to keep a good pattern. Be precise in your leveling (we recommend the string level) and clean spilt mortar from stones before it dries. If you do need to clean up hardened mortar, use muriatic acid.

Wooden rounds cut from large logs make a beautiful and easily constructed set of steps. Place the bottom round in the ground and position the next round partly over it. This will create a riser. Fill the space between rounds with earth and firmly tamp it. Follow this procedure to the desired height.

On long, steep slopes where there is no need for real steps use informal wooden steps. Ramp steps can be made with risers.

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The “trick of the trade” is to make a landscape plan for the entire property right at the very beginning so you can visualize the completed landscape picture as a unit. In this unit three of our most important ingredients will be repetition, sequence, and balance. But since you are mainly concerned with a landscape project involving home grounds instead of a large estate, do not let yourself get too involved in the complexities of the composition.

The larger the land area, and the more plant material and land forms you have to work with, the easier it is to work all of them into the picture. Yet even on the average home grounds, it is possible to work in these three factors of repetition, sequence, and balance, though on a much simpler scale. At times it will be almost impossible to use one or more of the factors; because of cramped quarters at other times it will not be necessary to be so thorough in the design.

Be practical, and consider them, therefore, as desirable but not essential components. Should you have sufficient funds to make hiring a landscape designer or landscape architect a worthwhile investment, then, naturally, you should expect him to incorporate these elements of composition into your landscape.

Repetition

When we say that we seek unity in a garden through repetition, sequence, and balance we simply mean that any one part of the garden shall be a definite and integral part of the whole. For example, you often see a property on which there are a dozen or more flowering trees in bloom, no two of which are alike. How much more pleasant it would be if, let us say, a white dogwood burst into bloom in the public area at the same time that two or three other white dogwoods were blooming in the service or private area, or both.

A person walking around the property would definitely notice that the same kind of tree was in bloom in the front yard as was flowering in the backyard. This is a very simple illustration of repetition in that the same type tree has been used in planting all three areas of your plan.

Sequence

As an example of sequence in design consider a series of promontories developed along a shrub border so arranged that, from one particular position – a patio, say – in the rear of the house, the observer could see the tips of all of them. His attention would move easily from the promontory nearest him to the next one, and finally to the third at the far end of the property. The same thing could involve a series of tree trunks, the observer’s attention moving from one tree trunk to another tree trunk farther across the property.

Balance

The third element or factor that goes into the making of a landscape composition is balance. It is the simplest for an observer to notice and perhaps the easiest to attain in a landscape planting that is developed along formal lines. Though less easy to achieve in an informal design, it is nevertheless within the grasp of amateurs.

For all practical intents and purposes we can say that balance in the formal garden is attained by having on the left side of the garden everything that there is on the right side, meaning details of design, plants like dracaena magenta plant, color, texture, etc.

In an informal garden design, however, the balance would have to be maintained through an equilibrium of interests. For example, picture yourself looking from a patio out across the private area to a terminal feature such as a bench or a birdbath. Since the garden is not formal, no obvious symmetrical balance will be apparent. However, assume that to the left of the terminal feature there is the tall, prominent spike of an upright evergreen. In a typical symmetrically balanced picture, a second specimen of the same type of tree would stand at the right of the birdbath in the same relative position.

However, in order to achieve balance in an unsymmetrical manner (or, as it is called, “occult balance”) we use, not the same type plant for a counter-balance, but something else that will hold our attention just as forcefully as does the upright evergreen. It might be a very striking dark green evergreen of spreading type just to the right of the terminal feature. In spite of the fact that the two evergreens are absolutely different in shape and texture, they are still in balance as far as our attention is concerned. This type of balance is not too easily conceived or noticed by the casual observer, but he will be unconsciously pleased by the effect. To the more experienced observer the good taste and careful planning of the gardener will be immediately apparent.

The two elements most easily worked into the plan for a small property are balance and repetition; Sequence is more difficult. Of the three, repetition is perhaps the most important, and undoubtedly the one that you will use most easily and most frequently. Through the use of all three you will achieve landscape harmony.

Rhythm

Another factor involved in a good landscape composition is the matter of rhythm. An example would be the repetition over and over again of some identical item at regular intervals, like the beat in music.

Picture a formal garden area enclosed by a formal hedge so clipped as to give an effect of square pillars every so many feet apart with the top of the hedge between them forming a gentle curve from the top of one pillar to the top of the next, swooping down between them much as a chain would. The constant repetition of pillars and gentle curves one after another would cause a definite feeling of rhythm as one looked down the length of the hedge. This could be done on a small scale in an average backyard just as effectively as on an estate.

Do not become confused or discouraged by these technical terms and discussions of apparently complicated items. On small properties many of them can be omitted and a very pleasing garden still result. Let me repeat that the two most important objectives for the beginner to work toward are repetition and balance.

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Experiments have shown that when the temperature falls to 45 degrees, or below, there is very little or no translocation of sugars and other materials from the leaves to other parts of the plant. When cool nights follow warm, bright, sunny days, sugar and other materials, which are manufactured in the leaves, are trapped in the leaves and conditions are favorable for production of red color.

A summary of the requirements for good fall color in this area should include these: care of ficus and trees should be in good, healthy condition resulting from favorable summer weather conditions and protection from injurious insects and diseases; varieties of trees which are expected to color brilliantly should be located in an open area where they will receive the full benefit of the sun’s rays; the delay of a hard freeze until late in the fall season; a gradual approach of autumn with bright, sunny, warm days followed by cool nights. Fall color is poor when the autumn days are cloudy, warm and rainy and when the season is brought to a sudden premature end by a severe freeze which kills the leaves before they have had a chance to color.

Fall color is indeed one of Nature’s many secrets. A few points are fairly well understood regarding the phenomenon, but scientists have failed to solve many of such problems, as, “Why does this hard maple turn yellow in autumn, while the one beside it of the same species and apparently living under identical environment, turns a brilliant red?” Even though many secrets remain unsolved, some knowledge of the marvelous procedure of Nature adds greatly to our enjoyment of this beautiful season.

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Undoubtedly vegetable gardens are occasionally started because the racks of colorful seed packets displayed in all sorts of stores every spring arouse a temporary enthusiasm to “dig and delve,” but such gardens usually deteriorate rapidly as soon as the weather becomes hot enough to spoil the fun. In the rare cases when such gardens are faithfully cultivated throughout the season, it becomes obvious that they were actually planted for the first reason mentioned.

Unless you really want to eat better vegetables than you can ordinarily buy, there is not much sense in saddling yourself with a back yard vegetable garden. There are easier ways to obtain outdoor exercise or to satisfy an urge to growing plants in containers or in a garden.

No matter how many short cuts and labor saving devices you may apply, there remains an irreducible minimum of plain hard work involved in vegetable gardening. Even the most ardent gardeners hardly enjoy cultivating, hoeing, weeding, thinning and spraying in the hot, humid weather of midsummer. Yet those are tasks to be performed whenever they are necessary if the garden is to be a success.

On the other hand, if you like to garden and really want to feast on far better vegetables than you can buy, it is certainly worthwhile for you to cultivate a vegetable garden. If you plan it in advance, select the most flavorful and succulent varieties to raise (not the ordinary, market garden varieties that “ship” and “keep” well), continually improve the soil and expend a little thought on labor-saving methods, you will not only eat better but also you will have a garden of which to be proud and one that requires only a minimum of hard work.

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One caution against fall planting concerns woody plants such as trees, shrubs, and evergreens that are planted in a very windy location. It may be necessary to furnish a windbreak of burlap to prevent wind from drying them out over winter, especially when the ground is frozen.

Late summer and fall is by far the best time to plant or transplant peonies. Irises can be planted in early fall and may give some bloom the following year.

Fall sown lawns are much better than spring sown ones, provided there is enough moisture in the soil to permit germination and growth. One important point is to allow adequate time, possibly two months, between the time you sow and when you expect the ground to freeze. The big advantage of fall sown lawns is that the grass seeds germinate and grow, but weed seeds do not. This gives a weed free lawn. We always hope that in the spring the new turf will be dense enough to tend to smother out the weed seedlings.

Broadleaf evergreens such as the Oregon grapeholly (Mahonia), boxwood, holly, Japanese holly, Japanese spurge, English ivy, and (if the soil is acid) rhododendrons, mountain laurel, leucothoe, and pieris, should be planted during early fall so that they can become at least partially established before the ground freezes.

Coniferous evergreens including the pines, spruces, firs, yews, hemlocks, arbor-vitaes, and others, can be planted any time from early fall until the ground freezes, Again, if there is much wind the earlier they are planted the better.

Roses Come Later

Except in very severe climates many rose growers like to plant roses and metal palm trees in the late fall. The plants are not normally dug by nurseries until their wood is hardened and mature. They are not usually offered for sale or shipped, therefore, before late November. Properly planted and mounded six inches high with peat moss or similar material – if you are old fashioned, with soil cut back to this mound they should come through winter nicely.

Potted roses, of course, can be planted any time during the fall.

One precaution in fall as well as spring planting is not to plant in a place that will be under water or very wet during winter and spring. If there is any doubt about drainage, the installation of agricultural drain tiles 18 inches deep, with lines 25 feet apart to carry water off to a lower level, will more than pay its cost in plants saved.

Hardy perennials and metal palm tree can be fall planted, preferably at least six weeks before the ground freezes to give them a chance to become rooted so they will not heave out of the ground. A mulch of evergreen branches, corn stalks or similar material will lessen heaving.

One phase of fall gardening often overlooked is sowing of hardy annual seeds in September so that the seedlings may come up and live over winter. Some of those which may be sown where they are to bloom are California poppy, cornflower (Centaurea cyanus), love-in-a-mist (Nigella), Shirley poppy, or any others that normally self sow in your locality. This will vary according to the severity of your winter.